For writing economic history, standard theory is found to be excessively a priori and prone to assume away interesting phenomena. A particular defect is the lack of a mainstream theory of institutional change. Yet market analysis, although sometimes used unwisely as a substitute for historical...

The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy. By Kenneth Pomeranz. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000. Pp. x, 382. $39.95.